Asus Z97 Pro. Board of mystery…

Hey,
calm down a bit do you?
Thanks for the help by the way.

Update:

I correctly saved a copy of current bios with afudos.
Using uefitool I see that the ME portion is empty.

@karfel I swapped (replaced) the ME portion with the one provided. The operation seemed to be successful.

But I flashed the modded bios both with Afudos /GAN command and with external programmer.

Same result, N/A at ME version.

I correctly saved a copy of current bios with afudos.

why don’t you use the programmer? it will fully dump your bios.

I swapped (replaced) the ME portion with the one provided. The operation seemed to be successful.

you should do clean dump (chap D3) method, not just replace it right away, the easier way has already been mentioned by MeatWar before…

the programmer should do the job in the first place if you use it correctly. I’m sorry, the file I’ve provided is just asus stock bios with updated ME, etc.

you didn’t mention what software you use with programmer. try NeoProgrammer with ch314, it has better wide support, and if you’re too busy and don’t have time to read the guide, it’s better to go to the repair shop.

edit : if there are still any problem, just send me your dump file and i will clean dump it for you

Thank you Karfel.
I fail and fail.
It is ok, I call it experience.
Your provided file is perfect, why you are sorry??
First, as mentioned, I am using a Xgecu T48 programmer and its software (Xgpro)that is far more complete and functional than any ch341a programmer and any tools.

I am reading thru the guide as I already did, but my problem is that I do not have any ME region.
It is empty.
If needed I will upload my dump.
So I have difficulties on the very beginning of the guide:

D3. ME 7 - 10 & TXE 1 - 2

In this section we have taken as an example a SPI/BIOS image dump of a model which comes with ME firmware version 9.1.x.xxxx and SKU 1.5MB. However, the same applies to all ME 7 - 10 and TXE 1 - 2 firmware.”……

That said, I am sure I am missing something.

When I program your provided file with external programmer, the ME region is empty again.

I am still convinced that part of the code is not stored on the EEPROM but on the PCH.

In fact with some bios versions you see two steps of update and you will see the write “bios updating…” after rebooting of the system for some seconds and then reboots again.
In that moment probably ME updates.

I will try to fail with @MeatWar method today.

No luck.
No methods work.

All bios images I use are alive and well with ME portion visible, I can check with UefiTool.
But whenever I flash the chip, the ME portion is empty again and I see N/A in bios.
I can use flashback, afudos or external programmer.
I even used an old ch341a I had with asprogrammer. Same.

Tried to edit a dump, unlocking read/write of all regions (following the guide), it went well.
Then used ftk9 guide from Coderush, apparently went ok.

Guess what?

N/A after rebooting.

I think something is wrong at hardware level.
Pretty much like what happened to this guy:

Update.

There is something new.
After unlocking the descriptor region, now the chip dump has indeed a ME region.
At least it is an improvement…
So the region is there, but bios still says N/A and of course installing drivers gives me error of non supported platform.
Dump uploaded.
dump.rar (4.9 MB)

here, after reflash, run this command with FPTw as administrator.

fptw64 -greset

edit :

I am still convinced that part of the code is not stored on the EEPROM but on the PCH.

this motherboard ME is stored in the same place as your bios region (25Q64BVAIG).

Thank you.
Unfortunately I obtain the same result.

This is what I obtain using MEinfo under DOS (booting from usb).

sorry, i couldn’t help any more. at this point, it is already beyond my capability.

1 Like

Program the IC with this file
Z97P.rar (4.9 MB)

After write, read again the IC, save it and compare both files.

And what codes have the mb displayed on the Debug Led.

Will do.
Meanwhile, I ordered two eeprom chips to rule out undetected corruption of the original one.

I am sorry to say that there are no changes.
I see the same errors with MEinfo as well.
Here attached roms, before and after flashing. They seems the same to me.
As for the codes on the Debug Led, they changes so rapidly that it is difficult to me to distinguish them, but I did a video. Do you want me to upload it?

My theory is that the eeprom does not communicate with the PCH correctly, hardware issue I think.
Do not know.
images.rar (9.8 MB)

Well sir, i’ll speak for myself… the file shared was used to recover a client motherboard with same symptom and later updated to latest beta, take your own conclusions.

Hardware problem

May I ask you a dump of your motherboard client?

No, you may not, as i don’t share such data with the general public and why do anyone want a corrupted dump.

Since the original dump is not available I may have a chance with another one from another motherboard which still contains motherboard info.

That way I fixed the x370.

Thanks anyway. Will find one myself.